Vols look to find defense and win column in Nashville
Tennessee (11-5, 2-3 SEC) travels to Nashville tonight to take on Vanderbilt (10-6, 2-2 SEC) in an important game for the Vols in what is an important week for Rick Barnes’ team.
The Vols are coming off of Saturday’s disaster, a 28-point loss at Kentucky where the ‘Cats shot 68% from the field and 61% from the three-point line.
The saying is defense travels. It didn’t get on Tennessee’s bus to Lexington. The question is will it show up tonight.
“Our one-on-one defense wasn't there at all,” Barnes said on Monday. “Some of the points they got, some of those drives to the basket, we obviously didn't get it across to the guys the way we wanted it done. Because, again, our one-on-one defense wasn't very good.”
The Vols' perimeter one-on-one defense will be challenged in Nashville by the SEC’s leading scorer Scottie Pippen Jr., who’s averaging 18.8 points a game. Pippen has been to the free throw line 105 times this season, so staying in front of him is certainly a challenge.
A year ago Pippen scored 18 in a Vol 20-point win, but he was just 4-for-12 from the floor. Tennessee must stay in front of him. Jordan Wright is Vanderbilt’s second leading scorer averaging 12 points a game.
Wright was the difference in the ‘Dores 73-66 win over Georgia over the weekend. Wright had 20 points.
"I think Jerry (Stackhouse) has done a terrific job,” Barnes said. “He is building the program more and more. They have done a great job developing players that have stayed with them and helped them and really find their roles and their niche. As you know, they shoot the ball well. They have good balance. They run really good stuff on offense. They are changing their defenses up. You can see a couple different defenses out of them. Certainly, Scotty Pippen Jr., preseason player of the year. He gets a lot of attention and for him to keep putting up the numbers that he is putting up is pretty impressive. But he has got some other guys around him that are really playing the roles they need to play.”
Barnes is looking for his team to understand better and for a core group of veterans to play much more consistently.
“We spend a lot of time with our older guys trying to get them to understand,” Barnes said. “The tough part is when we watch tape and the things that we talk about as a team that we want to do not only as a team but individually, guys don't do it. And their answer is always 'I don't know'. They should know. Again, that is on me that if they don't know, it is on me. I am going to keep harping on it until they do fully understand. When we say we need to do this, we need to do this. Or you need to do this.”
For the veteran post players that starts with rebounding. John Fulkerson and Olivier Nkamhoua didn’t have a single rebound between them in 36 minutes of play on Saturday.
“That can't happen. It goes back to consistency. What do we know we're going to get every single night? What we're going to have to do to get that,” Barnes said.
The other piece of understanding for Barnes’ team is taking care of the basketball. In the Vols three league losses they have turned it over 46 times. They have forced 43. A turnover margin of +3 in losses isn’t bad but that doesn’t tell the story. The story is the points given up off their turnovers. Tennessee’s opponents have 72 points off the 46 turnovers while Tennessee has converted their 43 turnovers forced into just 43 points. Vanderbilt’s defense forces on average 16 turnovers a game.
With the struggles at Kentucky all eyes will on tonight’s starting line up player rotation. Who gets the start? Who gets more minutes and who gets less minutes? Decisions Barnes said he would make based on practice this week.